CONTEXT Wing in 2006 recognized Computational Thinking as a fundamental competency that all literate citizens should develop through compulsory education, to complement the three other core skills, that is, reading, writing and mathematics. Computational Thinking (CT) is a thought process (or a human thinking skill) that uses analytic and algorithmic approaches to formulate, analyse and solve problems. In recent years, Computational Thinking (CT) have also been promoted by most educational stakeholders as a skill that is as fundamental for all as numeracy and literacy and is considered a universal competence, which should be added to every child’s analytical ability as a vital ingredient of their school learning. PROJECT OBJECTIVES The goal of the project CTApp is to spread the learning of Computational Thinking Skills. Specifically the project has three aims: a) A State of the Art on Serious Gaming & Computational Thinking. b) The Design, Implementation and Evaluation of a Mobile Serious Game in Computational Thinking (CTApp) c) Teacher Training Courses & Materials development on using the CTApp mobile game (e.g. handbooks & insturctive videos) TRAINING TEACHERS We will train teachers through an LTT event in Poland with 15 teachers from 5 project countries (PL, IT, CY, UK + GR) into teaching Computational Thinking skills with the CTApp mobile serious game. Trained teachers from each country will serve as multipliers and will train teachers in their own countries through training sessions all partners will organize. SERIOUS GAME EVALUATION Once the software development is finished we will run a large scale trial in which we will involve at least 200 students and observe their learning success with our mobile game. We will then finilize our mobile game and share it on an EU-wide scale. Scientific publications will be published to renowned international scientific journals & conferences with the results of the evaluation. The OPEN SOURCE ACCESS to all project outputs will be guaranteed for at least 5 years after project end. A TRANSFERABILITY of the results is guaranteed since all information gathered and developed can be transferred to primary and secondary schools as well as to Universities. PARTNER ORGANISATIONS This initiative gathers 5 partners from Poland, Cyprus, Italy, UK and Greece. WYZSZA SZKOLA EKONOMII I INNOWACJI W LUBLINIE (Poland): A non-state higher education institution offering full university degree programmes in a range of academic disciplines with over 6 000 students. CENTRE FOR ADVANCEMENT OF RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT IN EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY LTD-CARDET(Cyprus): A leading research and development center in the Mediterranean region with global expertise in project design and implementation, capacity building, and e-learning being independently affiliated with universities and institutions from around the world, such as the Yale University, the University of Nicosia and the International Council of Educational Media. INNOVA SRL (Italy): A private technology and business accelerator offering incubation and acceleration services to startups and innovative companies operating in cutting edge disruptive technologies in ICT (AI, IoT, machine learning, Industry 4.0 technologies). ASPIRE-IGEN GROUP LIMITED (UK): A vocational and training organisation with 22 years great experience of supporting young people into employment INNOVATION FRONTIERS (Greece): An educational technology & research company expert in the design, implementation and evaluation of educational software.
The goal of the project CTApp was to spread the learning of Computational Thinking Skills. Specifically, the project had three aims: a) A State of the Art on Serious Gaming & Computational Thinking (IO1) b) The Design, Implementation, and Evaluation of a Mobile Serious Game in Computational Thinking (CTApp) (IO2) c) Teacher Training Courses & Materials development on using the CTApp mobile game (e.g. handbooks & tutorials) (IO3)
Computational Thinking was recognized as a fundamental competency that all literate citizens should develop through compulsory education, to complement the three other core skills, that is, reading, writing, and mathematics. As technology continues to grow in importance in our daily lives Computational Thinking has become very important in our society and an increasing number of jobs require Computational Thinking skills. Therefore this project aimed to create a game-based learning concept through a mobile game app that teaches Computational Thinking skills. The consortium intended to create a cutting-edge game that measurably increased Computational Thinking in students. The target group was defined as students roughly between 12 and 18 y.o. A second target group consisted of teachers who were given concepts and materials for implementing the game as a Computational Thinking training tool in the classroom. The game was seen as a tool that was used in support of class work to activate students in a non-traditional manner and help them acquire essential skills. The reason for carrying out the project on an international level was that the lack of Computational Thinking literacy is better solved together.